


Wings of Night

by PetalstripeIsEpic



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:20:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetalstripeIsEpic/pseuds/PetalstripeIsEpic
Summary: For many moons, the clans have been relatively peaceful, meaning StarClan has been relatively quiet. They live with few large threats, and relations have never been better. However, after a long time of this peaceful quiet in StarClan, WindClan receives a new prophecy, a prophecy that has been known in the Dark Forest for many many moons...Only Wings of Night can stop the Dawn from falling over the Clans...





	1. The Prophecy

**Author's Note:**

> This is the beginning chapter of a warriors story I thought up years ago that I decided to pick up again and actually write! I don't know how frequent updates will be or how long the chapters will end up, but please bear with me, and if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes, kindly point them out to me and I'll fix them! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!

It was a dark, starry night in WindClan, and the whole territory was silent. The warriors of the clan lay quiet and still in their sleep, as if even in rest they were afraid to stir and disrupt the nighttime ambiance that had settled in their den. However, in the medicine den, this night was much different. 

A black she-cat lay alone in the corner of the den in a state of restless sleep. Her breathing was quick and heavy, and every few moments her paws twitched or her tail jerked or her spine shuddered for several seconds until settling down. After a while of this troubled rest, the she-cat opened her bright blue eyes and breathed in a gasp. She panted for a few seconds, her eyes frantically looking around the den before she eventually calmed down. She continued to lay quiet in her nest for a minute, her mind racing as she replayed her dream in her head. But eventually, she stood and quickly and silently trotted out into camp, making a b-line for the leader’s den.

“Waspstar?” She whispered, padding into the den as softly as she could. “Are you awake?” She stopped not far from the den’s entrance, listening for an answer. Confusion washed over her for a brief moment, as she couldn’t even hear the leader’s breathing, when a voice called out softly from behind her.

“Shadeflower?” If Shadeflower had been any other cat, she may have jumped when hearing the sudden voice, but she wasn’t one to be frightened. Besides, this voice was very familiar to her. She turned and just barely was able to make out the gold and black bengal tom in the shade of the den. The moonlight from outside made his eyes shine. They were bright blue, identical to Shadeflower’s own. But as he walked farther into the den to sit beside her, she saw that wasn’t the only thing about his eyes that was similar to her. He had a thoughtful, tense look on his face, a look that she recognized easily.

“Did you-”

“I had-”

They spoke at the same time, cutting each other off. They looked at each other silently for a second before Waspstar spoke again. “I’m sorry, you go first.”

Shadeflower nodded. “You got a message from StarClan, didn’t you? The same one I did.”

Waspstar looked away for a moment with a far-off expression, and he spoke in a whisper. “I believe so. ‘Only Wings of Night can stop the Dawn from falling over the clans.’ Was that what you heard?” She nodded, and he looked back at her. “That means something will threaten the clans again, and one of our cats will have to stop it?”

Shadeflower nodded. “I believe so. It’s pretty simple to decipher in that regard.”

“Sort of. I think it seems vague,” He muttered, “We don’t know if this Dawn is a cat, or a group of cats, or something else entirely. And we don’t know that much about the Wings of Night either. It makes me nervous.”

“Well, StarClan is nothing if not vague,” Shadeflower laughed for a second, before falling back into silence. The two sat and thought for a moment, thinking to themselves, quietly theorizing.

Waspstar, again, was the first to speak. “What could it be?”

“I have a few theories.” Shadeflower offered, and Waspstar flicked his ear towards her as an invitation to continue. “I can’t imagine the Dawn referring to the Dark Forest. It seems to bright. And I don’t think I can accurately guess exactly what it is. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the first thing my mind went to when I heard ‘the Dawn’ is Dawnheart.”

Waspstar broke into soft laughter at that, but it eventually faded when he noticed Shadeflower wasn’t laughing with him. He frowned, and there was a brief moment of silence. “You’re kidding?” Another second of silence as Shadeflower looked at him, and Waspstar narrowed his eyes. “You do realize who you’re talking about, right?” He gave a low growl, his fur bristling, but Shadeflower was unphased as she nodded. “Shadeflower, you have to be serious about this. You can’t jump to conclusions simply based on names. If we did that, we would have to assume Nightbird is the ‘Wings of Night,’ wouldn’t we? He is the oldest elder in the Clan, and Dawnfang is an innocent young warrior, not to mention my daughter, as well as your niece Shadeflower. She was named after our _mother._ You can’t think she’s a threat to the clans based on such stupid assumptions regarding her name.” He hissed harshly, struggling to keep quiet as he ranted.

Shadeflower sighed, still mostly unshaken by the leader’s words. “I never said I believed she was a threat. I was sharing my initial thoughts with you.”

Waspstar took a deep breath, his fur flattening out again. “So you don’t actually believe it.”

“I never said that either,” Shadeflower said, immediately making Waspstar angry again. “I’m saying it’s something to keep in mind. We want to keep an eye out for this threat, which means keeping an eye on any potential option. We need to be aware of anyone remotely suspicious, and that includes Dawnheart.”

“You can’t be serious. Dawnheart is not suspicious, you are just being- just being so- so ridiculous!” Waspstar raised his voice, but quickly stopped himself and looked outside the den when he did. After a moment, he started again, more careful with his volume this time. “Dawnheart has given you no reason to suspect her of anything. You’re accusing her based on nothing.”

Shadeflower sighed once again, beginning to get frustrated with her brother. “I wasn’t accusing her, Wasp. You need to listen to me here. I know she’s family, I know why you named her Dawn, and I know that you think she’s a perfect angel. But you have to understand, the more your kits grow the farther away they get from that image of perfection that you think they are. Dawnheart is just as capable of becoming horrible as any other cat here, so we need to be cautious.”

Waspstar was fuming, glaring at Shadeflower with the fury of his namesake. Shadeflower tried her best to maintain a steady gaze, silently asking him to at least understand what she was saying. But instead, he turned away from her, flicking his tail towards her.

“Leave.”

Shadeflower’s ears flattened against her head, and she narrowed her eyes in bewilderment. “Excuse me?”

“I’m going back to sleep,” He corrected himself slightly, “So I need you to leave.”

Shadeflower growled, but turned and began stalking out of the den. But as she reached the entrance, she turned back for a moment to look at her brother, although he still didn’t face her. “Wasp. I just… I need you to think about it. Even if it ends up as nothing and I look silly, which it really probably will, just… Think about it.” And with that, she walked out and back towards her own den.

 

The night was dark and silent in this forest as well, although it was always dark. A ginger bengal she-cat lay comfortably on her back-or about as comfortably as one could when the forest floor was always covered in thorns and brambles-and stared up with bright yellow eyes at the tall treetops that blocked out the sky. She didn’t sleep, no. She had no need to sleep anymore. She had no need for many things at all really(although circumstances left her feeling constantly hungry). Right now, all she wanted was some peace and quiet. However, this forest was filled with many cats, cats who also didn’t need sleep, so total silence was unfortunately impossible.

“Gingerflame!” A tom’s voice cut through her quiet, and she sighed, sitting up. Whether it was lucky or not, the tom approaching her was Scarface, her best friend in the world and debatably one of the worst cats here. He had a mess of curly, grimy grey fur, and as his name suggested, his face was covered in scars, including a missing right eye and a missing left ear. He bounded towards Gingerflame, his one dark green eye shining with excitement until he stopped next to her. “Gingerflame, guess who I found in WindClan?”

Gingerflame sighed, knowing exactly what he was talking about before he even asked her to guess. “Is it the Da-”

“It’s the Dawn!” He interrupted, his voice filled with enthusiasm.

“What is this, the billionth cat you’ve said that about?” Gingerflame huffed, unamused.

“No, that’d be ridiculous,” Scarface said, “This is only 184.”

Gingerflame let out a long sigh. “That’s not exactly what I mean. You’ve been doing this for an insane amount of time. We’ve been doing this for an insane amount of time. Not a single cat you’ve suspected of being the Dawn has even come close. Maybe you should just give it up.”

“Her name is Dawnheart. She’s one of Waspstar’s kits.” Scarface said, ignoring Gingerflame. “I started talking to her in a dream tonight. This is it, I can feel it. It might take a little longer than any of the others, she doesn’t really have any sort of bitterness or ambition to build off of, but we can work on that. I’ve been thinking of some new training methods and I really really feel confident about this one!” He got a far-off, excited look in his eye. “We’re getting so close Ginger, I just know it. We’re almost there. Soon everything will be worth it. Soon we can get everything we want.”

There was a second of silence before Gingerflame asked, “Are you done?” Scarface said nothing, so she nodded. “Look, I’m happy you’re excited and that you’ve got a good feeling about this WindClan cat who’s name is literally Dawnheart, but face it. We’ve tried too many times. It’s been too long. We’ll never find the Dawn, if they’re even real. I think maybe it’s time to consider that the ‘prophecy’ was just a hallucination or something that you got because of how you died or something.”

Scarface frowned, looking genuinely hurt. “Are you saying you think we’ve been doing this for nothing?”

Gingerflame frowned back. “I’m not saying that exactly. I’m just thinking like… Who’s ever heard of a Dark Forest cat hearing a prophecy before even StarClan?” Scarface’s expression only became more upset, and Gingerflame just sighed again. “Look, I’m not trying to invalidate all the work you’ve put into this, I’m just… I’m getting tired, Newt. It’s been so long and we’ve made no progress. I hate ThunderClan as much as you do, but I’m starting to think it’d be better to just wait the rest of our afterlives out here quietly instead of endlessly chasing revenge that we may never get.”

Scarface looked away. “I know,” He sighed quietly, “I know that we’ve failed too often and I know that it probably seems pointless now, but…” He turned and looked back at her, a sympathetic but determined look on his face. “I feel really good about this. I know this has to be it. If you can just… bare with me for one more cat, I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“And if it isn’t?”

He looked away again, his ear briefly flattening against his head. “If it isn’t… Then I’ll let it go. I’ll give up looking for the Dawn, and we can finally rest.”

Gingerflame smiled, standing up and butting his head with hers affectionately. “Alright. That sounds good to me.”

Scarface smiled back, nodding. “This one is definitely the one though. I feel better about this cat then I have with anyone else.”

Gingerflame laughed. “Alright, Scarface.”

 

 **Allegiances**  
**WindClan**  
**Leader:** Waspstar- A gold and black bengal tom with blue eyes.  
**Deputy:** Specklefur- A cream colored tom with white speckled fur and blue eyes.  
**Medicine Cat:** Shadeflower- A black she-cat with blue eyes.  
**Warriors:**  
Featherfern- A grey-blue she-cat with white splotches and green eyes.  
Jayheart- A grey-blue tabby tom with a white underbelly and green eyes.  
Apprentice: _Swiftpaw_  
Bluebird- A grey and black tabby tom with yellow eyes.  
Dawnheart- A golden point she-cat with amber eyes.  
Sootcloud- A black tortoiseshell tom with blue eyes.  
Flamefoot- A ginger tabby tom with blue eyes.  
Morningsong- A speckled cinnamon she-cat with yellow eyes.  
Apprentice: _Snowpaw_  
Rabbitleap- A grey-brown tom with green eyes.  
Fallenflower- A white and grey speckled she-cat who’s blind in one eye.  
Mudstorm- A brown and white tabby tom with blue eyes.  
Crowstep- A black and white tuxedo tom with green eyes.  
**Apprentices:**  
Swiftpaw- A patchy white and grey tom with yellow eyes.  
Snowpaw- A speckled black and white she-cat with green eyes.  
**Queens:**  
Ashenheart- A grey lynx point she-cat with amber eyes.(Mates with Rabbitleap)  
(Hawkkit- A brown lynx point tom with amber eyes, Heatherkit- A light brown she-cat with green eyes, Greykit- A grey tom with green eyes)  
**Elders:**  
Nightbird- A splotchy black and white tom with green eyes.  
Foxtail- A ginger she-cat with a white underbelly, a fluffy tail, and blue eyes.  
Ashwind- A light grey tabby she-cat with a white underbelly and yellow eyes.

 **ThunderClan**  
**Leader:** Fernstar- A fawn point she-cat with green eyes.  
**Deputy:** Lightningtail- A golden she-cat with black tabby stripes and green eyes.  
**Medicine Cat:** Pigeonpelt- A light grey tabby tom with white chest fur and blue eyes.

 **ShadowClan**  
**Leader:** Driftstar- A black tom with amber eyes and a missing ear.  
**Deputy:** Amberblaze- A cinnamon spotted tabby she-cat with amber eyes.  
**Medicine Cat:** Jumpingspider- A lavender point tom with green eyes.

 **RiverClan**  
**Leader:** Silverstar- A silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes and white markings.  
**Deputy:** Fogcloud- A patchy grey and white tom with green eyes.  
**Medicine Cat:** Beaverpelt- A dark brown tabby tom with blind amber eyes.  
**Apprentice:** Icebreeze- A white she-cat with reddish eyes and no tail.

 **SkyClan**  
**Leader:** Lynxstar- A ginger lynx point she-cat with green eyes.  
**Deputy** Olivebranch- An orange tom with one green eye and one amber eye.  
**Medicine Cat:** Cherryblossom- A tortoiseshell she-cat with yellow eyes.


	2. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the title to Wings of Night because it's better!

On the border of WindClan and RiverClan, Featherfern was patrolling along the border with her two brothers. Although border patrols were still an everyday part of warrior life in the clans, given the long-standing peace between them it seemed more like a formality to her. So as her smaller brother, Bluebird, carefully sniffed around at the border, she sat beside her larger brother Jayheart, watching him loyally perform what they deemed to be unnecessary duties. 

As they quietly looked on, Jayheart nudged Featherfern with his shoulder and nodded towards Bluebird. “Watch this,” He whispered. Then he suddenly shot up and yelled, “LOOK OUT!”

Bluebird yelped and jumped nearly a fox length back, his eyes wide and fur bristling. His head and ears swiveled around looking for the danger, but his ears fell flat against his head when he saw Jayheart laughing loudly with Featherfern snickering beside him. “Jay, come on! That’s not funny!”

“It was very funny,” Jayheart laughed.

“It was pretty funny,” Featherfern agreed with a nod, “But come on Jay, it’s still very immature.”

Jayheart huffed. “Come on Feather, you encouraged it.”

“I did no such thing,” Featherfern retorted, “Just because it was funny doesn’t mean you should do it.”

“Feather come ooooooon,” Jayheart sighed.

“No, she’s right!” Bluebird said, grooming his fur to keep it from standing on end.

“Yeah, come on Jay. You know he was grooming his fur all morning, and you’ve gone and messed it up.”

“Yeah, I- hey wait, I didn’t spend all morning grooming,” Bluebird said.

“Oh yeah, sure,” Featherfern laughed, “I guess you didn’t want to look nice for you and Mudstorm’s date later today?”

Bluebird’s ears twitched and he flicked his tail, shrinking into himself a little. “It’s not a date,” He insisted, his voice wavering, “We’re just…. Uh….”

Featherfern laughed again, “You’re just gonna hang out by the lake, alone together, watching the sunset and cuddling for warmth in a platonic way?”

“Yes. Yes, we are,” He said, trying to sound confident while clearly embarrassed.

“Oh, come on Feather, don’t tease him. It’s their first date, let them have fun,” Jayheart said, “I for one think you two are great together and I’m very happy for you, Blue.”

Bluebird looked down at his paws and let out a quiet, embarrassed thank you before straightening himself up and clearing his throat. “But uhh. The border is uhh. It looks fine so. We should…?”

“Oh right, yeah,” Featherfern nodded. “Let’s head back.”

As soon as the three siblings got back though, they were met by the enormous form of Mudstorm bounding up to them. Though he towered over pretty much every cat in the clans, he lowered himself to the ground to be at equal level with Bluebird so he could touch noses with him.

“Birdie! What took you so long? Did you take the long way back to camp?” He asked, tilting his head so that his large ears flopped to the side.

Bluebird grinned, seemingly forgetting about his siblings on either side of him. “Oh, yeah, we did. Sorry it took a while.”

“No need to apologize!” Mudstorm said, standing back up to his full height. “I just wanted to make sure you would be back in time.”

Bluebird laughed. “You never have to worry about that, bunny. I wouldn’t miss it.”

“I know, I’ve just been really excited for it,” Mudstorm exclaimed, a dopey smile on his face.

“Well… We have a little bit still, but if we walk slow we’ll get there just before sunset.” Bluebird suggested.

Mudstorm’s eyes lit up. “So you’re saying we can go now?”

“If you want.”

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Bluebird laughed sheepishly as Mudstorm affectionately licked the top of his head and started leading him back out of camp.

“Good luck on your date!” Featherfern called after them.

Bluebird’s ears flattened against his head in embarrassment, but Mudstorm called back over his shoulder, “Thank you!”

Featherfern and Jayheart both laughed a bit to themselves before turning back to each other. “I’m gonna go see how Swiftpaw and Snowpaw’s lesson with Shadeflower went. Seeya Feather.” He touched his head to hers briefly before turning and walking over to the medicine den.

Featherfern waved her tail at him as he left her, and looked around to see if Dawnheart was in camp. Featherfern had been best friends with Dawnheart since they were kits, and they’d been inseparable as apprentices. And even though Dawnheart had a mate now, they were still as close as they ever had been. So as soon as Featherfern saw her in the camp, she bound towards her.

“Feather! Hey! How was your patrol?” Dawnheart stopped the conversation she was having with her mate, Flamefoot, the second she saw Featherfern, purring louder then she had been before.

“It was good! We had fun,” Featherfern said, settling down beside the golden she-cat.

“You know you’re supposed to be remarking the borders and stuff on those patrols right?” Dawnheart questioned, her tone teasing.

“Oh yeah yeah, we did that too,” Featherfern said, “Bluebird did mostly, but he likes doing patrols and stuff more than Jay and I do, so whatever. I’m sorry to interrupt you two though. What were you talking about?”

“Oh, right,” Dawnheart looked back at Flamefoot apologetically.

“We were just talking about whether Specklefur’s gonna retire soon or not,” Flamefoot said.

“Well he is getting pretty old,” Featherfern pointed out, “I don’t think it’s too far off.”

“Yeah, but I always imagined my dads would retire together, and I know Waspstar isn’t retiring any time soon,” Dawnheart said.

“But isn’t Specklefur older than Waspstar anyways?” Flamefoot asked. “And Waspstar still has a few lives left. Most leaders don’t retire until they only have the one left.”

“Yeah, and Specklefur has been getting worn out more easily recently. I’ve seen him visiting Shadeflower more often too. And especially considering that Waspstar still has some lives left, he’s definitely going to be too old to be leader by the time Waspstar does retire.” Featherfern said.

“Besides,” Flamefoot added, “If they both retire at the same time, how would they choose the next deputy? Waspstar would have to choose a new deputy before retiring anyways, so WindClan will have a leader, right?”

“I guess so,” Dawnheart nodded. “It just seems kinda weird to think about, yknow? Specklefur’s been deputy longer than we’ve been alive.”

“I know, bunny,” Flamefoot agreed, “But we’ve had the same leader and deputy and medicine cat all our lives. I think WindClan could use some young blood in a leadership position.”

“Like you?” Dawnheart teased a little bit.

“As if!” The three turned as Jayheart walked by casually, followed by his apprentice, Swiftpaw.

Flamefoot stood up and called over to Jayheart, “You wanna run that by me again, Jay?”

Jayheart stopped in his tracks and turned around to retort, but Dawnheart and Featherfern quickly blocked him and Flamefoot out, giving each other knowing, annoyed looks. Jayheart and Flamefoot had been bitter rivals since they were kits as well, and ever since the day they were made apprentices they competed with each other in everything. Dawnheart and Featherfern stood up, quietly moving to another part of the camp. As they walked away, they noticed Shadeflower in her den, cleaning up herbs that were scattered around. The she-cats looked at each other again, then walked in that direction.

“Hey Shadeflower,” Featherfern greeted, entering the den first. “What happened in here?”

“First aid and basic herbal training,” Shadeflower grunted through a mouthful of herbs.

“I don’t remember first aid training being this messy,” Dawnheart said, looking around at the den.

“Well, apprentices aren’t taught the importance of organization anymore, or the importance of listening to your elders,” Shadeflower huffed. “I appreciate their curiosity but they could at least wait until I explain things before asking a million questions and poking at everything.”

“I think it’s good that younger cats are interested in what you’re doing,” Dawnheart said, “Have you considered getting an appre-”

“Yes, I have,” Shadeflower interrupted. “Waspstar has talked to me about it many times, I don’t need to hear it from anyone else.”

“I don’t think she meant anything by it Shadeflower,” Featherfern quickly defended her.

Shadeflower let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m not in a good mood today.”

Dawnheart nodded a bit. “That’s ok, sorry for bringing it up. Do you need any help cleaning up?”

“No, I d-” While she was talking, Shadeflower suddenly went totally still. Her eyes were literally clouded over with stars, and she barely looked like she was breathing. Featherfern and Dawnheart looked at each other for a moment, confused, but almost as quickly as she froze Shadeflower came back to reality. Her fur immediately bristled, her eyes narrowed and her pupils became slits.

“GET OUT!” She screamed, unsheathing her claws and directing her sudden fury towards Dawnheart. “LEAVE MY DEN RIGHT NOW!” Dawnheart and Featherfern both went rigid for only a second, and Dawnheart was the first to turn tail and run out of the den, Featherfern close behind. 

When they ran out, they saw the entire camp staring at them. And as Featherfern looked back, Shadeflower had already turned away from them and was back to sorting herbs-although the continuous twitching of her tail and the way her fur continued to stand up gave away her anger. Then she looked back at Dawnheart, who was looking at the ground, her ears flat against her head and clearly upset. She also saw Waspstar poke out of his den on the other side of the camp, then quickly run over to her and Dawnheart.

“What happened?” He asked Dawnheart, glancing between her and the medicine den.

“Uh, nothing just um…”

“Did you do something or is Shadeflower just in a bad mood?” He asked.

“Um..”

“I think she’s just having a tough day,” Featherfern answered.

Waspstar nodded at Featherfern with a heavy, frustrated sigh, then glared towards Shadeflower. “I thought so.” Then he looked back at Dawnheart, his expression becoming soft. “I’m very sorry about Shadeflower. We just got in a fight last night and she’s probably just upset about it still. I’ll talk to her, don’t you worry.” Then he turned back to the medicine den and his eyes narrowed again as he trotted up. A few of the cats in camp leaned towards the medicine den to try listening in as Waspstar whispered something to Shadeflower before they turned their backs to the camp and fell into a hushed argument. WindClan was quiet for a few moments before cats lost interest and went back to whatever conversations they were having earlier.

Featherfern looked at Dawnheart, who was still watching her father and her aunt with an uncomfortable and upset look on her face. Featherfern nudged her a bit to get her to look away and gave her what she hoped to be a comforting smile. “Hey, don’t worry about her. Sometimes people lash out when they’re having a bad day. I’m sure once Waspstar talks to her she’ll apologize.”

Dawnheart smiled and nodded. “Yeah, ok.” But she didn’t seem too sure. She just kinda stared in nervous thought at nothing in particular until Featherfern nudged her again.

“Maybe we should go make sure Flamefoot and Jayheart haven’t gone off and done something stupid?” She suggested.

Dawnheart shook her head quickly to clear her thoughts, then nodded, putting on a more positive demeanor and walking alongside Featherfern. “Oh, yeah definitely. I swear those two are going to get themselves killed one day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a majority of this fic, it will be switching from mainly Featherfern's POV to mainly Dawnheart's POV, with a few acceptions when it's appropriate. I also saw a tumblr post suggesting that WindClan cats call each other bunny as like an affectionate term and I really liked that so that exists and is canon cuz there aren't many affectionate terms for cats to use that I remember. I can't find the post anymore though so


	3. The Forest

That night, the WindClan camp was quiet once again, but StarClan sent no visions this time. No, this time around, the night seemed as ordinary as any other. Well, except for one golden she-cat. Though she had the same dream the previous night, the one that came tonight was just as unexpected and unwanted as it had been before, and she bristled as soon as she realized what was happening.

“Dawnheart! It’s good to see you again!” The familiar small, scarred tom said, walking up to Dawnheart with a smile.

Dawnheart stood up. “What do you want? I told you last night, I want nothing to do with you, or the Dark Forest, or your stupid prophecy,” She hissed, glaring at Scarface.

He frowned a bit, sitting down and tilting his head curiously. “Well, why not?” He asked.

Dawnheart gave him a bewildered look. “Because you’re _evil_! You’re in the Dark Forest! You tried taking over the Clans like, I dunno, two or three times?”

“To be fair, I was born long after the third time,” He offered

“I don’t know what games you’re trying to play with me,” Dawnheart growled, “But it won’t work. I’m loyal to my Clan, and I don’t need any help from dead cats.”

“So you’re telling me,” Scarface said, “That you’re judging me based on arbitrary, meaningless concepts of evil that a group of mostly morally grey cats decides on? Not everyone in StarClan is good, and they’ve been wrong before about who goes where. You must remember that they’re just more dead cats.”

Dawnheart frowned. “I mean. I guess. But most cats go to StarClan, so if you’re in the Dark Forest you had to have done something super terrible right?”

He snorted. “You’d be surprised. It’s honestly pretty evenly split. And even then, more cats tend to be bad than good, so that still leaves a lot of questionable cats in StarClan.”

She sat down, her fur flattening out a little. “Huh. I mean. I guess so.” Then her ears flattened and she narrowed her eyes again at Scarface. “So if that’s the case, what did you do? Why did StarClan send you to the Dark Forest? Did you like... Kill a kit or something?”

“What? Wow, no. You’re really making some assumptions there. And you’re asking some really personal questions, but ok. I owe you that much I suppose.” He laughed a bit awkwardly, then narrowed his eyes a little and glared at nothing. “I was sent to the Dark Forest for trying to enforce the laws that StarClan themselves put into place. I followed their rules, and they punished me for it.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Dawnheart said.

“It doesn’t, does it?” Scarface huffed. “Nobody cares about the code anymore, not even StarClan. They haven’t for a long, long time.”

He was quiet for a long moment, but eventually, he looked back at Dawnheart. “Hey. I’m not stupid. I know you have no reason to trust me. But I need to ask that we just talk for a bit. That’s how friendships start, after all.”

Dawnheart stared at him for a while, trying to figure out what the catch was, how he was going to twist this, what part of this was he lying about, but she couldn’t figure it out. She didn’t know if he was just really good at tricking people, or if he was some sort of master of deception, but either way, Dawnheart was inclined to listen to him. If only for a little bit. If only for this dream.

So she sighed, forcing herself to relax and sit down. “Alright, alright,” She said, “We can talk. It wouldn’t hurt anything, I guess, especially if you’re intent on barging into my dreams. Just know that this doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to be part of your dumb prophecy.”

“Of course.” He nodded and lay down next to her. “So how was your day?”

“You really want to know?” She asked.

“Well, yeah. We need to start somewhere, right?”

“Well, I’ll have you know it wasn’t great.”

He was quiet for a moment, then gestured with his paw. “...Care to elaborate?”

Dawnheart sighed. “My aunt just blew up on me, that’s all.”

“She’s the medicine cat, right? Shadeflower?”

“Yeah,” She nodded, “She was in a bad mood already and then her eyes went all starry and… I don’t know what it looks like when it happens but I think she might’ve gotten a message from StarClan.”

At that, Scarface’s ears perked up, and he looked at her curiously. “A message from StarClan? She got a message and then yelled at you?”

“Yeah.” Dawnheart frowned, shuffling her paws nervously. “That can’t be a good sign right?”

Scarface nodded, but he seemed to be looking somewhere else as a small smile crept across his face. “Maybe they got the Dawn prophecy too,” He wondered aloud. “If they did, that means I didn’t just make it up. And if they reacted that way towards you, they must be thinking the same thing I’m thinking.” He shot up suddenly, his ear twitching in anticipation. “This means we need to hurry. If StarClan has it now, that means that it has to be put to action soon. We need to get you to the Dark Forest _tonight_. We need to familiarize you with it, introduce you to… I don’t even know, probably just Gingerflame, and then we need to get to work.”

Dawnheart’s ears flattened against her head and she curled her tail around herself tentatively. “No, no I can’t do that, ok. I don’t want to be the Dawn, I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can. It’d just take a little ti-”

“That’s not what I mean, dumbass.” She snapped, standing up and flicking her tail angrily.

Scarface waited a moment, letting her calm down before he spoke again. “What do you mean, then?”

Dawnheart closed her eyes for a second, letting out a long exhale through her nose. “I don’t… Want to be the bad guy.”

Scarface was silent for another minute, then moved closer to Dawnheart and gave her a sympathetic look. “Who said you would be?” He asked. “The prophecy makes the Dawn sound bad, and I know my interest in it doesn’t help that for you, but being the Dawn can mean whatever you want it to. It’s _your_ prophecy.”

There was silence between them for what felt like moons. But eventually, Dawnheart nodded. “Alright.” She said. “I give in. Let’s see the Dark Forst then.”

Scarface smiled. “Wonderful. Close your eyes for just a second then. We’ll be right there.”

“Um. Ok.” Hesitantly, Dawnheart closed her eyes and opened them a few seconds later, and just like he said, they were in the Dark Forest. She looked around, at the trees that were so tall she could only just see the treetops that blocked out the sky. The forest was so thick that as Scarface started walking, she had to hurry to keep up if she didn’t want to lose him, and the bramble-covered ground felt harsh to her paws that were so used to the soft grassy moors of WindClan.

Scarface was already mumbling to himself as they walked. “We gotta find Gingerflame first, obviously, then what? I need to show her how to navigate, right? She’s a WindClan cat, she’s not used to the forest. Yeah, that’d probably be good. We don’t need to do too much yet. Ease into it.”

“So um… Who’s Gingerflame?” She asked.

“Oh, she’s a close friend of mine,” He began, then perked up as he saw something ahead of him. “Oh! There she is! Gingerflame!”

He ran ahead and Dawnheart struggled to keep up, but when she caught up they were in front of a tall, abnormally slim ginger bengal she-cat.

Scarface grinned at her. “Gingerflame, this is Dawnheart. The Clans seem to have gotten the prophecy, so we had to kickstart this a little early.”

Gingerflame nodded at him, then looked Dawnheart over with piercing yellow eyes. “So it’s real huh. You’re the Dawn?”

Dawnheart laughed nervously, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves…”

“Come on, no time to dawdle. We need to start showing her around.” Scarface said before he started walking again. Dawnheart followed behind as quickly as she could and Gingerflame fell into step next to her. 

The she-cats were quiet for a moment as Scarface rambled on about claw marks in trees marking places and how tall the trees were and stuff. Dawnheart found herself jumping a bit at every noise in the trees, and wincing as her every other step hit a thorn on the ground. Gingerflame continued to watch her carefully, before speaking. “You don’t need to worry you know. This is probably the safest place you can be.”

Dawnheart gave her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“Nobody here will hurt you. Even when training, Scarface and I are careful about keeping our claws in.”

Dawnheart scoffed a little. “I find that hard to believe.”

“No, I’m serious.” When Dawnheart continued to give her a doubtful look, Gingerflame huffed. “Look, kit. Me and Scarface have been dead for hundreds of moons. Scarface heard the prophecy the second he got here and has been looking for the Dawn ever since. In fact, I was the first cat who he thought was the Dawn. And since then there’s been another 183, including you, and that’s not even including all the other cats he’s trained or had trained to back up the Dawn when the prophecy comes true. A lot of cats have ended up here just by association with the Dark Forest. Hundreds of cats. Most of the Dark Forest knows who he is, and a lot of that is because he’s the reason a good portion of them are here. There are mixed opinions on him, but there's enough cats who respect him to keep those who don’t away from us.”

Dawnheart’s eyes widened slightly. “...Oh.” She looked into the forest around them, trying to spot any of the cats Gingerflame was refering to, and she swore for a second she saw a pair of amber eyes staring at them from the trees. She shuddered, then looked straight ahead, trying to keep the thought of it out of her mind.

They spent the rest of the night silent, just listening to Scarface ramble on.

When Dawnheart woke up at sunrise, Scarface sat looking at where she was for a minute, Gingerflame sitting next to him.

Eventually, she spoke. “She’s jumpy.”

Scarface nodded. “Maybe. She’s firey too though. She just needs some motivation.”

“I don’t think that’s all she needs,” Gingerflame said. “She needs to trust us. Otherwise, we won’t be able to get anything done.”

Scarface nodded, then thought for a second. “Well I don’t think she’s just going to trust us no matter what we say,” He said. “The living cats already know the Dark Forest to be a place for the worst cats. I think what we need to do is prove to her that the living cats she knows can’t be trusted. Then we can prove to her that we can.”

Gingerflame nodded. “Smart. You want me to keep an eye on her?”

“Not just her, all of them. Her family, her mate, her friends, everyone. We may need to recruit a few more to keep an eye on all of them.” Then he paused, an idea forming in his head. “You know what else we should do? We should introduce her to Buzzardstar.”

“Oh. Really? What would that do and would it be worth dealing with him?”

“I just think it’d be in our favor to expose to her what her fathers have been hiding for moons.” He smiled. “And if it’s for the sake of the prophecy, I’m willing to deal with anyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a tumblr for Wings of Night where I post some character designs! But even though I draw them, know that they're still up to interpretation!
> 
> https://featherfern01.tumblr.com/


	4. The Rivalry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some cursing in this one. There will be cursing in the future. Just keep that in mind in case you aren't comfortable with that.

Two moons later and all of WindClan was in camp gossiping. As expected, the WindClan deputy, Specklefur, was retiring. Everyone was gossiping about who would be made deputy next. Everyone expected a young warrior, and the options there were Jayheart, Flamefoot, Morningsong, and Bluebird. But of course, the most likely candidates in most of WindClan’s eyes were Jayheart and Flamefoot, and that bloated both their egos.

The two toms were sitting and arguing about it in the middle of the camp. With them was Featherfern, Bluebird, Mudstorm, Dawnheart, and Dawnheart’s brother Sootcloud. The smaller groups around them were whispering amongst themselves, often glancing over and trying to listen in on the argument.

“I’m the best fighter in the Clan,” Flamefoot said, “I’m smart, strong, and I’m the only young warrior here who’s trained an apprentice all the way to a warrior.”

Jayheart laughed. “Oh really? Because if I remember correctly, I was training Crowstep for the last moon of his apprenticeship.”

Flamefoot’s ears flattened against his head. “I was sick you asshole!” He snapped.

“Not to mention,” Jayheart continued, “I’m the fastest warrior in WindClan, I’m waaay smarter than you, and I’m the strongest-” He paused and looked at Mudstorm. “-second strongest cat in the clan. I’m also just as good a fighter as you, twice the hunter, and my apprentice is amazing. Besides, Crowstep liked me as a mentor way more than he liked you. I know, he told me.”

“He did not!”

“Can you two chill for five seconds?” Featherfern finally huffed.

“Yeah. Have either of you considered that there are like, five other candidates for deputy? You’re not the only two options. Maybe neither of you will be deputy.” Sootcloud pointed out.

Mudstorm nodded. “Yeah! I mean, Bluebird’s had an apprentice and he’s really good at a lot of things and he takes his warrior duties more seriously than anyone! He could easily be deputy.”

Bluebird laughed quietly and nervously, shuffling his paws. “Oh no, I don’t think so. I’m not really that good at anything. I didn’t even train my apprentice to a warrior. Everyone thinks it’ll be Jay or Flame anyways. They have a much better chance than I do.”

Featherfern and Mudstorm both looked at him and frowned. Featherfern knew she and Mudstorm wanted to say the same thing-that he was a great warrior and that he would’ve made Flowerpaw a great warrior too-before Flamefoot yelled “Shut up! You are not!” at Jayheart and they both realized that they stopped listening a long time ago.

Dawnheart narrowed her eyes at them both and looked like she was about to tell them to just shut up already, but then they heard a yowl and looked up to see Waspstar standing on Tallrock, Specklefur sitting at the base.

“May all cats who are old enough to catch their own prey gather around Tallrock for a clan meeting!”

Everyone moved closer to Tallrock, and Waspstar waited for a moment before speaking again. “As you all may know, today Specklefur has finally decided to retire. He has been my deputy since the day I became leader, and he has served his clan well for many moons since then.” He looked down at his mate, a soft smile on his face and a loving look in his eyes. “I will miss having him by my side as deputy, but I know he deserves this rest.”

Specklefur stood up, and now as he was retiring his age suddenly became obvious to the clan. “It has been my honor to serve my clan as it’s deputy, and to be able to help and lead you all.” Everyone was quiet, and Specklefur smiled. “Well don’t be all quiet about it. I’m old, not dead. Waspstar says I’ll be resting, but StarClan knows I never rest. I’ll always be around if anyone needs my help.”

Waspstar laughed and the clan broke into cheers and congratulations. Dawnheart and Sootcloud moved up in the crowd to touch noses with their dad, and Fallenflower did the same as his apprentice. Then the cheers died down and he moved to the back of the crowd to sit with the elders, who greeted him with friendly smiles and a few more congratulations.

Waspstar waved his tail to silence the last of the talking and waited a second before continuing with the announcement. “Now as I’m sure that every cat here is aware that Specklefur’s retirement means that I will have to pick a new deputy. I’ve thought long and hard about this decision. I’ve discussed it with Specklefur, and he approves of my choice. And I say this before StarClan so that they may approve of it as well.”

Jayheart and Flamefoot gave each other one last, confident look as Waspstar said those fateful words.

“The new deputy of WindClan will be Flamefoot! May you be a good successor to Specklefur, and a great deputy to your clan. I know you’ll be a wonderful leader one day.”

Featherfern barely noticed Flamefoot giving Jayheart a smug look before every cat cheered loudly once again and quickly surrounded him. Dawnheart purred loudly and briefly nuzzled her cheek against his. Crowstep walked up to him grinning and licked his shoulder. Waspstar jumped off Tallrock and he and Specklefur went into the crowd together. Sootcloud, Mudstorm, and Featherfern all went up to congratulate him as well.

The only cats who stayed away from the crowd were Jayheart, Bluebird, and Swiftpaw. Jayheart bristled, growling and glaring towards Flamefoot before lashing his tail and stalking out of camp. Swiftpaw looked confused back and forth between the crowd and the entrance of the camp where his mentor was leaving. Bluebird watched Jayheart for a moment, then walked over to Swiftpaw.

“Go on, congratulate him! Don’t worry about Jayheart.” Swiftpaw gave Bluebird a doubtful look, but Bluebird gently nudged him towards the rest of the clan. “You know he and Flamefoot don’t get along. I’ll talk to him. Don’t worry about it.” Swiftpaw looked at where Jayheart left for a second longer, then nodded and trotted up to the rest of the group to give Flamefoot his congratulations.

Bluebird turned and quietly walked out of camp, sniffing the air to find where his brother went. He walked almost as far as the broken half-bridge before spotting Jayheart pacing by the lake. He moved up to him and as Jayheart turned around to continue pacing, he spotted Bluebird and jumped slightly.

“Great StarClan, don’t scare me like that! You’re so quiet, jeez.” He huffed and went back to pacing.

“Sorry,” Bluebird said, “You just seemed upset and I thought-”

“Yeah, I’m upset!” Jayheart snapped. “Flamefoot does _not_ deserve to be deputy.”

“He’s a good warrior, Jay.” Bluebird tried, but Jayheart just hissed.

“No, he isn’t! He’s an awful warrior! And he’s not even a good leader! He’s just loud and egotistical enough to fool Waspstar into thinking he is,” He growled, his tail lashing angrily back and forth. “He never takes charge, he tries so hard to be liked that it keeps him from actually doing any work, and he barely even tries to improve anything because he thinks he’s already a perfect specimen. I work hard! I don’t have to trick anyone into thinking I’m a leader because I actually take charge! I deserve to be deputy!”

“Jay, I know, but-” Bluebird was once again interrupted as Featherfern ran up to them, glaring at Jayheart as she stopped in front of him.

“What are you doing here? What makes you think you can just run off like that?” She scolded. Jayheart opened his mouth to retort, but Featherfern interrupted. “I don’t care about you and Flamefoot’s stupid rivalry. Can you put aside your ego for two seconds to congratulate your friend?”

Jayheart’s ears flattened against his head and he narrowed his eyes at Featherfern. “Are you kidding me? He doesn’t deserve that position and you know it! I bet that if he wasn’t dating Waspstar’s daughter, he wouldn’t have been made deputy in the first place.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Featherfern huffed, “Waspstar chose Flamefoot to be deputy because he’s a good warrior. Now you’re just being immature. Stop acting like a damn kit and be happy for him for StarClan’s sake!”

Jayheart bristled even more, his face twisting with fury. “How _dare_ you call me a fucking kit! Do you know Flamefoot or Waspstar at all? Flamefoot is a terrible warrior, and every cat knows that if Dawnheart or Sootcloud were eligible candidates, Waspstar would make one of them deputy without hesitation, even if they were horrible warriors. But fine! If you want to live in your stupid fantasy world, go right ahead! But I’ll be in reality, because I actually have the critical thinking skills to notice the flaws in our fucking system.” Then he whirled around, his tail hitting Featherfern’s face and walked further along the lake, away from camp.

Featherfern looked like she wanted to run after him and scold him some more, but Bluebird quickly stepped in the way. “You’ll only make him angrier if you follow him now.” He said, looking back worriedly at Jayheart. “He’s just frustrated. Give him some time. I’m… Sure he’ll get over it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little bit shorter, but hopefully not a lot of chapters will be like that!
> 
> Look at the official Wings of Night blog! I turned asks on so you can,, ask things!  
> featherfern01.tumblr.com


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